5 Things You Didn't Know About The Old Mountaineer Field

Did you ever go to a game at the old Mountaineer Field? We stumbled upon this great little documentary on YouTube on the “Jewel of the Mountains” and learned these five interesting facts:

1.

The stadium was built in 1924 at a cost of $740,000. In 2014 dollars, that would be just over $10 million.

2.

The stadium seated 30,000 people, but Garrett Ford, Sr., a former football coach, said if they got 15,000 people they were happy. “It was such a different atmosphere. Everybody went to the game, they wore shirt and ties.”

3.

The seats were MUCH closer to the field than in the new stadium. “It was cozy,” said (the legendary) sports writer Micky Furfari.

4.

There were plans to expand the stadium by putting a second tier of seats that would have gone out over campus drive. The plans were abandoned.

5.

The last game played at the stadium was a 24-17 loss to Pitt in 1979. The stadium was finally torn down in 1987. Watch the full documentary on YouTube (it’s 8 minutes long).

I remember hanging out in the end zone with the photographers when I was less than five years old. My dad was what they then called the publicity director, and I and my brothers had (or took) the run of the field. I remember jumping off the walls around the field into a pole vault pit, which was just a net bag full of foam pieces, after at least one game. They had dragged it over next to the wall for the game, I guess, but it made for a perfect landing spot. I have vivid memories of walking through campus to games in the early 70s after we had left Morgantown. Thanks for posting these things.